In my copending application Ser. No. 426,909, filed 13 Dec. 1973, I have disclosed a printing machine of this type wherein a supply tube is horizontally disposed inside a cylindrical printing screen and supports a dyestuff applicator divided into two relatively vertically movable parts, i.e. a guide structure secured to the underside of the supply tube and an elongate distributing member carried on that structure. The distributing member forms an outlet for the dyestuff along a narrow zone which is centered on a vertical axial plane of the supply tube and which can thus move up and down, in response to irregularities in the underlying substrate, substantially independently of that tube. The movement of the distributing member can be restrained, however, by interposed springs supplementing the weight of the overlying body of liquid, as likewise disclosed in the copending application.
In another copending application, Ser. No. 538,560 filed on 6 Jan. 1975 as a continuation of an earlier application now abandoned (Ser. No. 348,703 filed 6 Apr. 1973), I have disclosed a dyestuff applicator of the general type described above wherein, in order to prevent drooling of dyestuff onto a printing screen during standstill, a shutter is interposed between the applicator and the screen surface for movement along the latter into and out of a flow-blocking position. Such a shutter, being independent of the applicator proper, requires separate mounting means for supporting it on the supply tube.